Cultivate the Magic of your Lifestyle!

How to Style In a Thrift Store

Good morning, lovely readers! Everyone is a shopper. There is really no way to get around this necessary part of life. We shop out of necessity, for pleasure, or sometimes, because we just have to!! This is a subject bloggers cover often. Great tips for grocery shopping the right way can be found right here. Victoria provides informative tips for successful thrift store shopping in Tips for Thrift Store Shopping!. Ellen Grace gives a glimpse of simple treasures she found here. Mrs. Kate takes her readers on a tour of Decorating the Home from Thrift Stores and Hand Me Downs. Elena teams up with Kali Borovic, a thrifting veteran, in an interview about All Things Thrifting.

Thrift store shopping. It sounded intimidating at first. You walk into a store loaded with goodies or “cast-me-outs” of all different shapes, sizes, ages, and smells. Some items have multiple ailments, snags, holes, or very seasoned aromas. Some still have name brand tags attached. With the help of a good friend, gradually I was able to learn that even styling in a thrift store can be a fun adventure. I still shop at retailers, and I am not dismissing them, but I do enjoy the experience of searching for “hidden treasure” from time to time.

Wear something simple to shop in. Don’t wear layers…you will have to peel off all of the layers just to try something on.

Wear slip-on shoes to make changing time easy, or shoes you wear often to color match.

Pile clothes on the cart. Think outside of the box. Try different styles and colors. It’s a thrift store…so you have this luxury! I often of a cart loaded with clothes and then I end up only buying 2-5 items.

Bring a white tank top into the dressing room to try with sheer tops.

Take a sweater or jacket into the dressing room if you don’t plan on wearing a sleeveless top.

Wear bottoms to the thrift store that you will wear often and that you can try with the tops you find.

Take purses and shoes into the dressing room so you can mix and match.

I would like to invite you on a very personal experience. This was my most recent thrift store trip. This is what I discovered along the way.

Shop the details. Look at the gorgeous love on all three of these tops:

If you aren’t 100% satisfied, put it on the rack. Oh how I loved the lace on this top, but it was simply too short for me. I put it back. A person with a much smaller torso than me will love it and wear it often!

Find colors and textures on pieces of clothing that you can wear with other clothing. Mix and match as you are trying clothing on in the dressing room. I can wear this gorgeous white top with both these blue skinny jeans and tennis shoes, or I can tie it up and pair it for a more dressier look with this black skirt with ruffles and shoes.

Another example of mixing and matching. All of these items are thrift store material, with the exception of the blue leggings and the tennis shoes.

Pair tops you find in the store with bottoms and shoes from the shoe rack. This whole entire outfit (which I purchased), is completely from the rack of the thrift store.

One of my brothers is a visual media designer. I hired him to design a logo that would take your breath away, and I am so excited to see just that on the top of my website!! Take a look at the lovely new logo.

Thank you Misha, for your comment! I hope sharing my personal experience with you was helpful!

Melissa at TheFashionedWoman wrote: How cool is that!? I am always intimidated by doing a makeover on a piece of furniture. I am currently sitting on the coziest chair that is a thrift find and is in need of new fabric. I have the tools but the task is daunting so I have procastinated. You have given me the courage to just jump. Great job for a newbie. I like how you included the steps, tips and price of the tools. Are you going to use this as a seat or a footstool?

Thank you Melissa, so much! I really appreciated your comment. I was in your shoes until I just decided to dive in, and then I realized it was actually not as hard as I thought it would be. I will be using it as a footstool for now in my living room, as I don’t have a recliner, but eventually I think it would be a great comfortable seat for the desk in my work room!

One of my favorite subjects – thrifting… Great post! Love how you included example pictures with your advice. Thanks for the helpful links for other thrifting articles. I like the last skirt you modeled the best – could look vintage and classy!

Thank you Rachel! The last skirt was an adventure outside of the box for me. It wasn’t a piece I would have usually picked up, but I was determined to find some new “thrills and frills!” You are right, you could really style a fun vintage look with it.